The Wall Street Journal urged a federal judge to dismiss Binance's defamation lawsuit, arguing the exchange's March 2026 complaint still does not show actual malice in three articles about compliance failures and transactions linked to sanctioned Iranian entities. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer questioned Binance over 22 allegedly defamatory statements and took the motion under submission without ruling from the bench. Binance says the coverage falsely implied investigators were fired for examining Iran-related transfers and that an internal probe was shut down, while the Journal argued Binance is objecting to editorial framing rather than false underlying facts. The newspaper also pointed to similar reporting by The New York Times and Fortune as support for its position. The dispute sits against broader U.S. scrutiny of Binance after a Senate inquiry, a Justice Department examination of more than $1 billion in allegedly Iran-linked transactions, and the exchange's earlier $4.3 billion criminal settlement over anti-money laundering controls and sanctions violations.